The ever increasing quantities of solid waste generated each day present major collection and disposal problems which have been increasingly well recognized.
Some wastes, such as solid organic waste, can be recovered and reused or converted to energy, whereas other wastes, such as plastics, glass, metal and paper can be recovered and recycled for new uses. Such recovery and recycling frequently involves processing such wastes into high grade commodities at a materials recycling or recovery facility. In general, the materials recovery facility (MRF) is a processing center where recyclables are separated and processed to maximize value and reusability.
Examples of waste recovery operations are described in Choi et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,077,847; Eckoff et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,198 and Kelyman, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,581.
Conventional methods of disposal, such as using landfills, are becoming prohibitively expensive and sometimes create serious pollution problems. Recovery and processing of recyclable material is becoming essential to our society's waste reduction and management practices.
The benefits of recycling solid waste material are many. Use of recyclable materials often saves considerable energy and natural resources when compared with production of goods from raw materials. Communities participating in recycling programs may share in the revenues from the sale of the recyclable materials and realize a net reduction in their solid waste disposal costs. By shredding solid organic waste, and removing ferrous metals therefrom using magnetic-based separation technology, processed refuse fuel (PRF) can be produced from solid organic waste and can thereafter be converted into electrical power (e.g. by burning in a PRF fired boiler), and sold to electric companies, thereby providing additional revenues.
It has been reliably estimated that 30-70% of the solid waste stream is recoverable, and that MRF's are capable of reducing the amount of solid waste to be disposed of by as much as 25%.
A number of programs presently being promoted require special collection bins or collection containers and separate translate into high costs and inconvenience to residents.
Some programs as discussed above use separate collection bins, e.g. "Blue Bins" or Boxes, that are set out along curbside on special pickup days, and which are picked up separately from other household and/or commercial solid waste, using specially designed collection vehicles, often supported by additional trucks and trailers to pick up and transfer recyclables. Other such programs involve the use of carrier bags which are transported by trucks to a sorting area. Recyclable materials are sorted by hand or through the use of a bag rupturing apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,212 discloses a bag rupturing apparatus which includes a screw impeller.
The collection and transportation of recyclable items is a major factor in the cost of recycling. If such items must be segregated upon collection, the collection process becomes more time consuming and costly. If the items are not compacted, they occupy too much space. Finally, if the recyclable items are so intermingled with unrecyclable materials that sorting becomes difficult at the materials recovery facility, the cost of sorting will significantly and adversely impact the efficiency of the recycling procedure.
Accordingly, there is great need for improved methods of collecting recyclable materials, for subsequent recycling at recyclable material recovery facilities. Therefore, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a novel alternative to prior art methodologies for collecting recyclable materials, and also, solid waste collection programs based thereon.